The Rajkummar Rao-starrer is about free and fair elections in conflict-ridden jungles of Chhattisgarh.

‘Newton’ will be India’s official entry to the Best Foreign Film catgory at the Oscars next year, says a Film Federation of India official.

The Amit Masurkar movie, starring Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Raghubir Yadav and Anjali Patil, tells the story of polling officer Newton Kumar, who is bent on conducting free and fair elections in the conflict-ridden jungles of Chhattisgarh.

“There is a feeling of unbounded happiness,” said Tripathi. “I was cooking when I got the news. We are all still absorbing the overwhelming high praise from the critics and now this. It is a victory for talent and for independent cinema.”

Sunil Lulla, managing director of Eros International Media Ltd, tweeted: “It gives us immense pleasure to announce that our film #Newton is selected as India's official entry to Oscars 2018! We at Eros are extremely proud, Newton is totally deserving of this huge honour. We will continue to back good cinema as always”.

Director Masurkar said it was a double celebration for the team. “We are really happy. The fact that the film is releasing today doubles the happiness. We hope that people will now really head to the cinema halls to watch the film,” he told PTI.